Pooja Saini

About Pooja Saini

Multi Industry-focused Finance Leader with 12+ years of experience driving controllership, financial transformation, and growth enablement across India, UK, Canada, and US entities. Proven in building finance functions from the ground up, institutionalizing ICFR frameworks, leading regulatory readiness (RBI PPI, FEMA, GST), and enabling automation that reduces costs and accelerates closings. Trusted business partner to boards, investors, and C-suite leadership, with a track record of audit readiness, investor reporting, and strategic cost optimization.As a Group Financial Controller at Tide, I lead and manage the month-end close process for assigned Indian entities with international entities. I review account reconciliations, flux analyses, controls, and financial statements, and collaborate with and manage third-party outsourced consultants. I also support the global monthly close process to ensure an accurate and timely close, including consolidations and foreign currency accounting for international entities and global operations.

Experience

1. Group Financial Controller

   Tide

   Jan 2024 — Present · IN

   Founding finance member, scaled Indian entities; spearheaded operations for £30M portfolio, enabling ARR growth from 0 → £3M.Led finance stream for RBI PPI license, accelerating launch of new fintech products ahead of schedule.Built finance function from scratch: controllership, treasury, investor reporting, and automation with full statutory and tax compliance.Drove ERP migration (Xero/Tally → SAP), standardizing processes and enabling real-time analytics.Cut close timelines T+20 → T+4 via automation, saving £400K annually.Achieved clean audits (statutory, tax, transfer pricing) for 3 consecutive years.Treasury management: implemented forex strategies saving £500K, secured working capital liquidity.Enabled fundraising & capital injection, leading financial/tax/legal due diligence and FEMA/RBI compliance.Optimized vendor negotiations, delivering £400K in cost savings while ensuring compliance.Mentored teams to build SaaS metrics models (ARR, CAC, LTV, payback), embedding data-driven finance.

Education

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

  CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, Accounting, Finance, Tax, Audit, Law

  2011 — 2016

• Delhi University

  Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.)

  2009 — 2012

Skills

• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Auditing
• Tally Erp
• Bookkeeping
• Microsoft Office
• Statutory Compliances
• Income Tax
• Tax
• Financial Accounting
• Financial Analysis
• Budgets
• Microsoft Word
• Bap Comliance (Irda)
• Due Dilgence
• Direct Tax
• Teaching
• Research